1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to bumpers for automotive vehicles and more particularly to a front bumper assembly for an automotive vehicle equipped with retractable head lamps.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An example of a prior art bumper assembly of the above described kind is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The bumper assembly consists of a bumper facer or bumper outer cover 10 formed of an elastomeric material such as urethanes or polyester elastomers by a known technique such as injection moulding, a rigid bumper armature or bumper backing member 12 secured to the outer cover 10, and an energy absorbing member 14 received within the outer cover 10 and abutting the backing member 12.
The outer cover 10 has an upper wall rear end portion 10a secured to the backing member 12 with bolts and nuts 16, 18 and a retainer 20, and a concealing flange 10b which cooperates with the front end of an unshown engine hood to conceal the rear end portion 10a. In case, however, of a vehicle equipped with retractable head lamps 22 as shown in FIG. 8, the rear end portion 10a is exposed to view when the retractable head lamps 22 are moved to their projected positions together with head lamp lids 24, thus deteriorating the appearance of the vehicle.
In order to solve this problem, it has been proposed to utilize a concealing member 26 for concealing the rear end portion 10a, bolts and nuts 16, 18 and retainer 20. With this structure, the rear end portion 10a is located close to the retractable head lamps 22 in their retracted positions, and furthermore the provision of the concealing member 26 causes reduction in the clearance C between the bumper assembly and the head lamps 22, resulting in that even upon a light head-on collision of the vehicle the head lamps 22 are likely to be struck by the concealing member 26, retainer 20, etc. to be damaged thereby.